Gary Walts / The Post-StandardRod Carr poses in front of the Phoenix Police Station after his promotion to chief in 2006.

Phoenix, NY -- Rod Carr, the retired Syracuse police spokesman who became police chief in the village of Phoenix, died this morning at his home in Clay.

Carr died at 6:10 a.m. about two weeks shy of his 65 birthday, said Phoenix Police Officer Joseph Marotta, who became the officer-in-charge of the village department.

Carr worked right up until his death. He finished his shift at 4 p.m. Thursday, but came back in to help Marotta with an investigation later that night, leaving the station at 11:30 p.m.

"He seemed very upbeat," Marotta said. "We're all speechless. It's a devastating hit to the department and the village."

Marotta went to Phoenix Mayor Anthony Fratto's house to give him the news this morning.

"We don't know the cause of death," Fratto said. "He was not ill."

Fratto said Carr e-mailed and texted him at 11:39 p.m. Thursday.

The mayor said he's not sure when a search for a new chief will begin.

State Police Capt. Jeffrey Raub said the initial circumstances point to Carr dying from a heart attack, but no autopsy had been performed yet.

Carr was hired by Marotta, then a sergeant, in 2004. He was promoted to chief in 2006. Previously, he served as the spokesman for the Syracuse Police Department for 15 years before retiring in 1993. He came to Syracuse in 1969 to work for a local TV station. After retiring from the Syracuse police force, he restarted his broadcasting career with stints as a talk show host on local airwaves.

He later worked in Chittenango before hiring on full time in Phoenix. Both of his sons are in law enforcement locally, Fratto said.